By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In their second matchup against each other in three days, the Seattle Kraken handled the Vancouver Canucks in a 4-0 victory. A veteran laden group headlined by Yanni Gourde, Alex Wennberg, and Oliver Bjorkstrand, Seattle continues to build great chemistry. While it is just the preseason, the positive signs displayed by the Kraken continue to remain present and things are looking much better than year one.
Rookie forward Matty Beniers scored the first goal of the night (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Meet Buoy
Yes, the Kraken finally have a mascot. No, it is not the mythical beast that the team itself is named after. The second-year franchises official mascot is named Buoy, and it is a troll. Inspired by the Fremont Troll in Seattle, the reveal of the mascot was received with mixed reviews. While the Kraken branding is typically dark and mysterious, the idea behind Buoy is that the mascot is kid friendly and will act as an ambassador in the community. It may take some time, but Buoy will surely become a lovable part of the franchise. Kraken vice president of entertainment experience and production, Lamont Buford, discussed the goal for Buoy.
"I will say it wasn't something that we really sought out to do right away, but with this organization, we have always listened to our fans, and our fans were truly wanting to have a mascot. In listening to them, we decided to start the process to get our character,” Buford said.
Veteran heavy roster handles Vancouver
While typically NHL teams stack their preseason lineups in younger players and roster bubble players, the Kraken have deployed their veterans evenly each game. Seattle seems determined to truly generate great team chemistry before they begin the regular season, and it looks like that is working perfectly to plan. Yanni Gourde, the presumable captain of this team, had a monster game. Gourde scored a goal and added two assists, totaling three points on the night. Teammate Oliver Bjorkstrand spoke about playing on a line with Gourde.
“I like his game, he’s always on the puck. When he has the puck, he always makes smart plays... overall, I really thought that we were able to get some good minutes in,” Bjorkstrand reflected.
Brandon Tanev brings the puck up the ice (Photo by Liv Lyons)
What’s next?
Following their fourth win of the 2022 preseason, Seattle will head on the road for two games to finish out their exhibition matches. The first of the two comes on Monday, October 3rd against the Calgary Flames. Puck drop for the game is at 6PM PST, as the two Western Division teams will battle it out on ESPN+.
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